If continue as they're going, it's likely we'll lose our best players during the summer transfer window. It's a concern that needs addressing now by the board, or we'll go into the 18/19 season with severe unrest in the stands.

It's conceivable that Lanzini, Antonio, Obiang etc could be off if we don't make progressive strides and a give the players a reason to stay. If we do those those players, it will highlight how pointless the move to the London Stadium is.

I'm not knicker-wetting, but the clubs going through troubles times (again), so retaining the services of the few players that excite supporters will turn the mood sour before we've kicked a ball next season.

The fact that Anchelotti is a free agent and the fact our manager has lost the plot means the club should go all to convince his type to take the hot seat at West Ham and give everyone a lift.

The challenge is to build the expertise in scouting and recruitment to take advantage of the players you sell, rather than the house of cards approach of trying desperately to hold on to what you have.

It is the only way that we can hope to succeed in the reality of modern football.

I guess the thing is that clubs like us will always lose their best players as we don't compete for anything and don't even manage to scrape into Europe - so why would the likes of Lanzini or Antonio want to stay if something better comes knocking? If they have any ambition, they will know by now they need to move on as our owners will never invest what is required to move forwards

Losing your best players isn't as huge an issue if you have;1 a good scouting network with replacements lined up2 a manager who knows what he wants out of his team and how to bring new faces into the lineup3 a decent squad isn't eh first place4 owners who will happily re-invest the proceeds from the sale of said best player(s)5 owners or a director of football who can negotiator the best price for a sale and then the purchase of replacements